The present invention relates to an assembly for preventing pidgeons from entering the space between a pair of adjacent I-beams of a bridge, and in so doing, preventing the pidgeons from nesting, among other places, on the lower inner flanges of the adjacent I-beams.
In areas where pidgeons are in abundance, such as in urban areas, it is not uncommon for pidgeons to nest on the undersides of the transverse portions of bridges and, in particular, to nest on top of the lower flanges of steel I-beams which commonly form the structural support for the transverse portions of bridges. As can readily be appreciated, such nesting on the I-beams is a nuisance to pedestrians and commuters passing under the bridge who are subjected to droppings from the pidgeons. In addition, such nesting on the I-beams often leads to pidgeon droppings being deposited on the I-beams, which droppings are capable of causing corrosion of the I-beams and, ultimately, leading to structural damage to the bridge. One approach to this problem has involved placing metal chicken wire over the space between adjacent I-beams and welding the ends of the chicken wire to the bottom of the adjacent I-beams so as to prevent the pidgeons from being able to nest on top of the lower inner flanges of the adjacent I-beams. However, as is typically the case when two dissimilar metal are placed in contact, the placing in contact of the metal chicken wire with the steel I-beams typically results in corrosion of the I-beams. Such corrosion is further hastened by the use of a metal weld to fix the chicken wire to the I-beams.
Other approaches to the problem have included laying wooden planks or cotton netting across the lower inner flanges of adjacent I-beams in such a way as to seal off the space between the adjacent I-beams. These approaches, however, typically suffer from the fact that the wooden planks or cotton netting soon rot from exposure to outdoor conditions and must be replaced and/or from the fact that the wooden planks or cotton netting are not secured to the I-beams and can be displaced therefrom from high winds or the like.